Salzkammergut Festwochen: World Premiere Splendor with Thomas Bernhard's "Elisabeth II." in Gmunden

According to the program description, the play is Bernhard's penultimate drama and at the same time the only Bernhard play that the author himself never saw performed on stage. This starting point lends the performance a special tension, Kurowski writes, since Bernhard himself was no longer able to experience any scenic realization and the production therefore had to unfold on a purely textual basis.

Bernhard's Penultimate Drama

In terms of content, "Elisabeth II. – Keine Komödie" revolves around invited Viennese upper-middle-class citizens who, from a balcony, await the arrival of the British queen. At its center are dependency, elitist self-staging, and existential questions, which Bernhard dissects in his typically cynical tone. Kurowski describes the drama as a ruthless portrait of Austrian society.

Director David Bösch chose an unusual solution for the scenic realization: the assembled company of guests was staged as a shadow play, so that – with the exception of Doktor Guggenheim – they remained invisible to the audience. This alienation creates a claustrophobic intimacy, the review states, and intensifies the linguistic power of Bernhard without relativizing it through visible figures.

Production as Shadow Play

The scenic design was handled by Patrick Bannwart, who was responsible for set and lighting. Kurowski characterizes the stage design as „spärlich, klinisch und trostlos". A striking contrast to this is provided by an oversized, opulent chandelier that dominates the space as the central focal point, thus symbolically heightening the megalomania of the society.

The leading roles are cast with well-known actors: Sven-Eric Bechtolf takes on the part of Rudolph Herrenstein, Lutz Zeidler plays Doktor Guggenheim, and Gunda Schanderer portrays the housekeeper Fräulein Zallinger. The servant Richard, who sits in a wheelchair, is embodied by Christian Higer. With this cast, the ensemble succeeds in bringing Bernhard's linguistic precision and his venomous play with double meanings to bear in a nuanced way.

Cast and Co-Production

The drama program of the Salzkammergut Festwochen is overseen by Karin Bergmann, who is introduced in the article as the future Intendant of the Salzburg Festival. Under her direction, the production came about as a co-production with the Landestheater Linz, to which the production will transfer on 11 October with the same ensemble.

The performance thus joins a series of distinguished engagements with the Œuvre of Thomas Bernhard, who is regarded as one of the most important Austrian dramatists of the 20th century. That precisely his one and only play he never saw himself could now celebrate its stage premiere in the Salzkammergut lends the production programmatic weight.

All in all, the production shows how a supposedly static chamber play, through consistent reduction and a shadow-play aesthetic, develops its own oppressive tension. The thunderous premiere applause confirmed the director's approach and made clear that Bernhard has lost none of his sociocritical sharpness more than three decades after his death.